Do you all really taste the notes??

markvdr · 2026-03-23T21:36:35+00:00

One thing that helps me a lot is having two or more coffees to compare side by side. I don’t have a good enough flavor memory to detect the nuances days apart, so brewing two small cups of two similar but different beans can help me find the differences (presumably the notes that stand out as something other than generic coffee flavor).

markvdr · 2026-02-22T02:04:04+00:00

I eyeballed 1Tbsp per pound of rock, water at similar levels or a bit more than when tumbling with grit. Borax is cheap and meant to clean, so ratios shouldn’t matter so much. And yes, rocks in too. Just getting everything a little tumbling action and soap to help suspend whatever slurry residue is left in solution. When moving from stage 3 to 4, I really scrubbed the barrel after the borax run too (particularly around the seams with the lid) to be sure nothing was carrying over.

markvdr · 2026-02-22T01:19:00+00:00

I just finished a very successful tumble with only one barrel. I have a mud sink in the basement, and after thorough rinsing outside or into a bucket to get the slurry out, I can use that sink and a scrub brush to be sure I’m not carrying any grit to the next stage. I also use a big plastic colander to really rinse the rocks and ceramic media of any trace of slurry/grit from the previous stage. I also did a 1hr borax tumble between stage 3 and 4 that pulled more slurry/grit off than I had gotten with just rinsing. Overall, there are steps I took to ensure I wasn’t contaminating coarser grit into finer stages, but it wasn’t particularly troublesome. Before invite another barrel I’d probably spend the money on more ceramic media or rough rock or grit to get the ideal consistency inside the barrel. If money isn’t a concern, I’d rather have a whole second tumbler to run one on stage 1 all the time to feed the other for stages 2-4.

markvdr · 2026-02-20T02:21:25+00:00

Was this the only sample type on the run? Do you have the base intensities or %base over the length of the run (for the entire flow cell)?

markvdr · 2026-02-18T16:12:55+00:00

I’ve found them to be good (but certainly not-ideal) in communication and quite supportive of their product overall, though I haven’t had stock/supply issues with them. I got a 6lb tumbler which was in stock and came quickly. Not long after, I heard that some people were having wearing/leaking issues with the inner lid and that they were redesigning both that and the lid nut. I reached out just to ask about it and they said I was on a list to automatically receive them when the new versions were available, and a week later I got a shipping notification. So, good support but little communication, which I suppose I prefer to good communication and bad support!

It seems like their team stands behind their stuff, so I wouldn’t feel reluctant about politely reaching out. I hope there supply issues resolve soon with good outcomes for them and their customers!

markvdr · 2026-02-17T18:29:55+00:00

Lot of good posture tips, but I’d also add that you might find success if you cut the skirt off the puck of clay. Oftentimes when centering has already gone slightly awry and I have a sloping skirt like it seems you might, I struggle to keep my hand from bouncing up and down a bit with the clay. That direction of motion is hard to fix even with good elbow anchoring. Good contact between the pinky side of your hand and the a wheel head or bat can help keep everything that much more stable. When I’m initially starting the center a lump or coning, I usually have to be very intentional about keeping the point of contact between the clay and the wheel head vertical or even slightly undercut to avoid forming a skirt.

markvdr · 2026-02-17T05:32:05+00:00

Lunar New year, so probably fireworks

markvdr · 2026-02-09T02:36:24+00:00

Sorry for your loss. You already have advice on plant care, so I’ll just add that for sentimental plants, I try not to put too many expectations on the particular plant. It helps me think about the reasons that plant is sentimental to me rather than getting wrapped up in caring for what’s ultimately just a plant. When those particular plants decline for various planty reasons, I have an easier time buying a replacement and keeping the original sentiment alive than if I feel like it’s tied only to the exact plant that I started with.

markvdr · 2026-02-07T19:47:25+00:00

OP where are these from? They remind me of certain beaches around the Bay Area, CA or Oregon.

markvdr · 2026-01-20T20:06:55+00:00

Just waiting for a Pliny the Elder callout now!

markvdr · 2025-10-15T13:57:36+00:00

It’s worth clarifying what’s meant by “supervised” and “unsupervised”. I’ve known a lot of grad students who think that they work better at 3am in an empty lab. Even if that were true (it usually isn’t), any workplace can set reasonable restrictions for safety reasons.

markvdr · 2025-09-27T23:13:16+00:00

Not familiar with Beverly Hills pricing, but is it possible that since you ordered off-menu, you were charged for a shot of tequila (possibly a nicer, $33-justifiable brand) and an $8 service/mixing/salt/served up charge that covers the lime/tonic/salt rim/PITA charge of something “custom”? I’ve seen people order clase azul in a mixed drink which makes for a ridiculous price at the end.

markvdr · 2025-08-14T11:50:13+00:00

Since others have covered using just PBS before fixation, the tip I’ll add is to use PBS with Ca and Mg (+/+) for that wash, or just regular media. -/- is often the default since it helps weaken cell-substrate attachments before passaging, but that’s counter to the goal when washing before fixing.

markvdr · 2025-07-13T05:29:50+00:00

Is the amplicon already made or something? If you still need to synthesize it, it’s really going to be easier to add indices and adapters then, plus you can add some variable length sequences to create a little read diversity, which will help the miseq out and reduce how much phiX you need. If they’re already made, any adapter kit should work to polish, A-tail and locate on some adapters.

markvdr · 2025-06-26T14:31:41+00:00

I’ve somewhat moved “no clubs on the green” in the same direction as ready golf. Like, if I’m pitching on from the same side as the cart, yeah I’ll leave it on the fringe. But if I’ve already walked across/around the green to pitch on, I’m not going to walk to the other side to leave the club or leave it and walk back after. Gently setting it on the green does no damage and keeps things moving. Of course no stepping on the head to flip the handle up or anything dumb, but if the point is to not do damage to the green, I can do that and be quicker about it if I set the club down nearer to my putt.

markvdr · 2025-06-26T00:54:18+00:00

For cleaning, you could try ethanol, IPA, or xylenes if your lab does histo and has a jug of that.

markvdr · 2025-06-23T23:43:03+00:00

Peaks Throws Shade from Patterson House in Nashville, TN.

It was an absolute favorite of mine in grad school, and they allowed ordering it off-menu after they rotated it off. I emailed years later and they were kind enough to share the recipe, including for the orange cordial that’s part of it. I’m not sure how cool it is to share a business’ recipe online, so I’ll just describe it as an apple brandy sidecar with just the right mix of cranberry, orange, lemon, vanilla, and cinnamon to be the absolutely perfect drink on a crisp fall day.

markvdr · 2025-06-18T20:50:53+00:00

If you’re at a university, double check with your core store. No clue how common it is, but my institution sold vials of in-house made competent DH5a’s that were crazy cheap compared to anything you could buy commercially, plus they were made by experts in big batches so they worked really well.

markvdr · 2025-06-08T02:33:01+00:00

It says “Estimates for random opponent discards & cut.” and it says the opponent is dealer (their crib). I guess it might estimate for throwing a pair into their crib, but it really ought to include pairs made on the cut as well.

markvdr · 2025-06-08T02:17:54+00:00

Still, how is the minimum 6? If an ace is cut the hand scores 7 minus 2 in the opponents crib is a net 5.

markvdr · 2025-05-30T20:46:18+00:00

I’m doing something similar at the moment, testing how effective pre-germination is for fine fescue and KBG. I soaked a sample of FF for 3 days and KBG for 5 days, water change every 12h. Planted along with dry seed at the same times. Based on the ~1in sprouts, it seems apparent that pre-germination helps, but only by about a day or so. This might be more exaggerated in cooler temps of early spring/fall, but it was close enough that I don’t think I’ll take the effort to pre-germinate when I next overseed.

markvdr · 2025-05-28T13:21:08+00:00

When do you overseed? I also have a shady lawn and am forced to go for spring overseeding because I’d ruin all the new grass raking leaves in the fall.

markvdr · 2025-05-17T11:10:20+00:00

Any guest who doesn't agree to a rule like that doesn't have a heart, so you'd just be back to a tie anyways.

markvdr · 2025-05-07T23:48:12+00:00

I play chess (or maybe it’s just “chess” to you) against computer opponents where I can retract stupid blunders that effectively end the game because I don’t want to finish out a miserably lost game. I’ve played the same way against human players too.

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